John Merrell
New Member
I have had experience with a Grumman 17 I outfitted with sailing rig(lug sail, leeboard, rudder and outriggers). Now at 77 I am outfitting an Old Town Discovery 119 with a Flatt Earth sailing rig from AU and Vevor outriggers. I will install mast thwart about 17 inches from bow, another thwart for the outriggers and another for the mainsheet/traveler. Cost for new canoe, sailing rig and hardware is about $1200. I also purchased a used jet ski trailer which I will modify with a 36 inch tongue extension and appropriate bunks. Cost for trailer and modifications about $600. I am confident this setup will work for paddling and sailing. I might add, I chose the Flatt Earth sail over the Falcon rig for two reasons; the cost for the Flatt Earth sail was about $125 less, the main reason was the ability to sail both upwind and down wind as the sail can be set at about 85 to 90 degrees due to the location of the shrouds being lower. Like the Falcon rig, I can drop the Flat Earth sail into the canoe and secure it to the mainsheet thwart if I just want to go paddling when the wind dies down. With the outriggers/stabilizers I should be able to sail in relatively higher winds up to around 20 mph. I weigh around 215lbs and just under 6' tall which is less than half the weight capacity of 500 lbs of this canoe. I also will use a long single canoe paddle for steering which will act as a leeboard/rudder sailing windward and/or down wind. If anyone is interested in specific details/photos I will be happy to provide these. I'm not able to provide photos via my computer, but can text them from my cell phone. I will have this project completed in a couple of months. John
